I Don't Usually Thrift, Buy When I Do... 10 Recent Thrift Store Flips Bought For $81.50 & Sold For Exactly $1,000 (12.3x Return)

steemmatt (69) in thrifting • 5 years ago

I don't thrift much in lieu of recycling, but I'm one hell of a bargain finder when I do.

I've sold thousands of items from thrift stores for similar profit margins, but prefer to get free household goods from my neighborhood's curb recycling to help our environment.

If I don't need to thrift anymore with these strong profits at my fingertips whenever I want to visit stores, this should show you how lucrative recycling is instead.

Below are 10 recent flips I bought low and sold high.

Most items were shipped made with 100% personally curb-recycled packaging and materials outside of tape.

Sale price is revenue before site fees and shipping costs.

Sealed vintage Lego set bought for $14.05 and sold for $310.

^{This is a helpful site for Lego evaluations: https://www.brickeconomy.com.}

Vintage keyboard bought for $8.70 and sold for $120 in under 20 hours.

Commemorative baseball bat bought for $6.52 and sold for $100.

Vintage Nakamichi CD player that had a CD tray issue bought for $22 and sold for $116 to a happy customer who replaced a spring that was causing it.

Sealed new plumbing appliance bought for $5.18 and sold for $72.

Used wifi touch bracelet bought for $14.15 and sold for $65.

Two sealed new documentary DVDs bought for $2.17 each and sold for $49 each.

Apple Magic Keyboard 2bought for $2.17 and sold for $42.

Apple Magic Mouse 2 bought for $2.17 and sold for $37.

Used Funko Pop bought for $2.17 and sold for $40. Eat your heart out @blewitt.

Recent active resale posts:

Anyone can make extra income. The formula is extra effort + determination + dedication. If you stick with it, a lot of doors open, and most of them lead to more freedom.

I was just going to recycle tonight, but this post got me in the mood to attack a few stores. Let's see what happens...

Thanks for your interest and support.

@steemmatt

thrifting resale diy business freedom

5 years ago by steemmatt (69)

$2.82

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cubapl (58) · 5 years ago

unbelievable that some people are still buying dvds in this price :)

I really started to follow you on literally every post. Also I added you to my steemauto fanbase, just in case if I would miss something

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2 votes

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practicalthought (65) · 5 years ago

Curious what your typical listing duration is between listing and selling. Obviously not everything sells but notice there are mostly low ballers so far.

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago (edited)

For eBay, I rarely post auctions, maybe 2-3 a year. I typically do buy it now listings with NO best offer. I don't want to give buyers any leverage or inkling that my price is negotiable. If people do email me for a slight discount, I review it on a case by case basis - heavily impacted by the potential shipping cost.

Listing duration varies so much. I often aim a bit high on price for rare items, so I can often wait 4-8 months for some to move. There are certain items that I know are popular and almost always move in a few days or weeks. It's usually a function of how much demand there is and the price point. I never care about listing duration since almost all of my listings are free with my store, and simply patiently put more hooks out for the fish to bite at -- whether that takes a day, week, month or year. This may be unique to me because I have no costs to recover from the free recycled items I find.

However, if something is really stuck with no watchers, I'll assume that my price is too high and will lower it in small increments until I get nibbles. If that doesn't work, I may part the item out and sell it in pieces, or take the listing down and donate it.

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practicalthought (65) · 5 years ago

I rarely post auctions

Yeah, before I quit using them about 8-10 years ago, I stopped using them too. To many non paying bidders tying the merchandise up for half a week before you could relist, as well as the item never fetching anything close to its value.

I'm still to small to list very many things (small as in I don't have money to pay out of pocket to ship many things at once if/when they toss me into managed payments) as well as getting a handle on their (ebays) actual fees. Hoping to get enough sales to have a little shipping fund (especially since it looks like offering free shipping with it built into the cost of the item is the way to go). Going to look into Mercari this weekend as well, as like Poshmark, they charge the seller for the shipping and give you the label to use.

Ebay says that because of the age of my account (plus I did sell on there somewhat before the scammers exasperated me due to my business model) I can do up to 100 listings. Guessing by the time I actually have 100 listings, accounting for their managed payments system they are forcing sellers into, that will be raised.

Might try splitting my lot up if it doesn't sell in the next week (maybe try half of them on Mercari). Thanks for taking the time to explain. I looked your store over and it helped me understand your posts better, as well as why my old model left me at the mercy of scammers.

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago (edited)

One step forward at a time. Clean slate mindset. Offense is sometimes the best defense against potential issues, at least to where they'll be minimized by the larger proportion of positives underway. 100 listings should be just fine for now. eBay boosts that figure up over time and will likely do so to an unattainable ceiling. For example, here's the absurd amount that I can list:

Out of 325,000 Out of $19,500,000.00

I have no involvement with managed payments yet and hope it's not something I'm forced to use. Either way, I'm trying pretty hard to sell more off of eBay than on. I've let my listing volume drop down and am more motivated to sell on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist for cash and much less carbon footprint.

I figured that some savvy people will be able to find my store. You didn't give me any advanced warning to spruce it up a bit!

^{Please keep that confidential here if you don't mind.}

I haven't tried Mercari, but I think it's a viable option. Patience may be needed since the traffic is likely much smaller. I've only bought one thing there to flip on eBay, but it was a nice and simple process. Let me know if you like it down the line.

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practicalthought (65) · 5 years ago

I have no involvement with managed payments yet and hope it's not something I'm forced to use.

Ebay has said by the end of this year all transactions will be through their managed payments system. I think they are realizing they have squeezed most of what there is to squeeze from sellers directly which is why their competition is taking market from them.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ebay-stock-falls-after-wells-fargo-turns-bearish-2020-01-17

It sucks I can't know if they have thrown me into it yet, as I have lots of stuff I can list, but without knowing if I'm eating the shipping up front have to dip in slowly with them. But better to proceed as though I do, lol.

No worries about loose lips here. I understand completely.

Will definitely let you know on Mercari. Will be setting up with them on Sunday and mass listing as I know the customer pays shipping there.

I took your advice and figured out how to turn off best offer (it comes preloaded in the listing and one has to search to turn it off). I will give it one more week and then try splitting the lot up as you suggested.

Thanks again. I feel optimistic, enough that I pushed to downgrade my hours at my very physical job to jump into this faster.

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brickmanbrad (58) · 5 years ago

$14 for the that Batman set??? Unbelievable!! The two minifigures that are in that set are both pretty hard to find (both only available in two sets each) and that's the only set that has both of them.

I would kill to come across finds like that. Well done!

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago

There were two other sealed new sets with this at the time, but they were not good flips for my standards. I left them for some kids to hopefully enjoy. I'm glad you caught this. I'll remind you of this older find for $10 Harry Potter that I sold for about $575 below in my reply to Carl...

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1 vote

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carlgnash (69) · 5 years ago

I have never, ever, ever, seen Lego sets in any condition in a thriftstore, let alone sealed set. And I go to thriftstores all the time, having bought all my clothes from thriftstores (minus undies and socks) my entire adult life. What a lucky score

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practicalthought (65) · 5 years ago

Pickers who almost live in the stores grab them quickly.

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pennsif (79) · 5 years ago

Some nice scores there.

Particularly interested in the vintage keyboard. How old more or less was it? Anything special about it? I've got a load of old computer equipment stashed away from when we ran an office about 15 years ago.

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago (edited)

This one was from 2000. It's a high end programming keyboard line that's streamlined for developers and speed typists. The newer models sell for about $250 today and are designed for low friction and optimal ergonomics for speed.

When in doubt, look up the model numbers on eBay to look under "recently sold listings" and you'll get a gist. If you have a lot of old equipment, I'm sure you have a few gems mixed in with a bunch of standard stuff. A bit of research/inventory assessment will help guide you to the cream of the crop.

It's all about supply and demand with the vintage stuff. Collectors or irrationally faithful techies for their old gear can be rabid for certain vintage electronics. If you have the only one listed on eBay, it's your chance to name your price and see what the cat drags in.

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pennsif (79) · 5 years ago

Thanks for the extra info. I will do some digging in the storage.

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago

Make sure you keep them away from humidity. Over time it can damage the boards inside. That happened with a $400 sale of mine of a brand new camera... it was 15-20 years old, but the internals had gone on the fritz for the LCD display because of moisture that somehow got in the package from being in a basement.

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pennsif (79) · 5 years ago

Unfortunately the area where they are stored can get a bit damp in the winter. Maybe bad news.

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago

If it's manageable to get a dehumidifier you can regularly dump, that'd help, but I'd step on the gas and sift through to pluck out the most valuable stuff for the short term. It's not often that the boards get this issue, but it's certainly a possibility if they've been in those conditions for a very long period of time.

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gniksivart (67) · 5 years ago

Congrats on the awesome find!

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steemmatt (69) · 5 years ago

Thanks, just doing what I can to never work corporate again. Reselling Legos and assorted nonsense seems like the way to do it for now.

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southcenter (38) · 5 years ago

I'm always amazed when people are able to purchase sealed LEGO sets at rock bottom prices. Even at garage sales around here people want a MINT for them. Thrift stores usually want 2 MINTS! :-)

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